Sometimes I really do have to pinch myself to make sure im not dreaming or to remember to appreciate every moment of this amazing journey.

I am back in Pai now and so happy to be. Am I seriously living this life? Today I was woken first by LOUD roosters at dawn and then later by Thai music blasting from the temple that vibrated throughout the entire village. A slow start found me at a very Thai western café down the ally where I sat and watched people pass as I enjoyed my western food fix. After I set out to find a hair salon sick of my massive mop in this heat. Before long my adorable Thai pal Peoi scootered past and offered to take me to his friends. I jumped on the back of the scooter and once we arrived they discussed in Thai what I wanted. I sat down feeling a little apprehensive and left soon after with a nice light thin mop of hair only to later find I could have done the same job myself as my hair has literally been hacked at. But I really couldn’t care less, all I could do is smile at the thai way.

This afternoon I popped by this beautiful café Art and Chai. A Swedish girl, Sandy, and her Thai partner own it. My pictures really can’t even begin to portray the beauty of this place!

My yummy scrummy fresh indian chai- masa 

After chatting to a few new people I set off on foot with a full belly of alloy tea to meet a friend I met in a jazz bar a few nights earlier. She too is Swedish and her husband from Chile. They have two beautiful children and I often see the hang squeezed on a scooter about town. I went by to check out his work as he is a spiritual tattooist with a Pacific Island and Indian influence to his work. They had been living in India for the last eight years and before that in Bali. They found themselves in Pai by chance and now live in a rather amazing house on the Pai river and have decided to stick around.

In Pai you often see the phrase “Pai in love” written on signs, t-shirts etc and I’m not really sure what exactly its history is. I know that with some Thai sentences words are the opposite position to English. For example we would say really really hot but they would say hot really really or in thai lu-ng mak mak. So my theory is they are saying “In love with Pai” since it is simply a place you fall in love with. If you ask people who have been here what to do when you arrive most people will not have much of an answer, its not that there is this amazing tourist attraction that you wont find anywhere else in Thailand, its just the atmosphere that people love and therefore find it so hard to leave. Whatever the meaning or history of this phrase is pretty easy to share its view regardless.

Love Pai!